Fifteen children, dressed to the nines, gathered in the rotunda of Baltimore City Hall yesterday to play their violins and cellos for the politicians who are closing their music school. The Baltimore Talent Education Center provides after-school music training for 180 children from across the city. “The school system, facing a financial crisis, has reassigned the three full-time teachers who run the weekly lessons, saying their talents will be better used in music classrooms in schools. The teachers’ redeployment is the result of an immense school system staff reduction; layoff notices were sent to more than 700 employees last month.”
Tag: 12.18.03
Catching More Flies With Honey
Online music piracy is a problem worldwide, but the heavyhanded tactics being employed in the U.S. to make file-swapping less tempting are controversial, and not every country is following suit. In Argentina, the recording industry is using dialogue, education, and partnerships with corporations whose employees use company computers for their piracy to stem the flow of illegal music.
A Year For Issues Theatre
What kind of year was it for British theatre? Michael Billington writes that: “A year ago I bemoaned British theatre’s detachment from politics. Where were the plays that dealt with the big issues? The heartening thing about 2003 has been theatre’s reconnection with the wider world. We have had plays about Iraq, David Kelly, the railways, racial tension and Belfast. Theatregoing no longer seems a pleasantly marginal activity. The most cheering aspect of the year was the varied and rapid response to the Iraq crisis.”
Sydney Dance Star Retires
Sydney Dance Company star Simone Goldsmith, 29, retires from the company after a “glittering 10-year career. As always, the shy star, one of the country’s most critically acclaimed dancers, was keen to dodge the spotlight, but with tickets sold out last week in a rush from the public to witness her final performance, this was never on.”
Australian Ballet Lobbies For Expanding Sydney Opera House
The Australian Ballet welcomes news that the Sydney Opera House renovation has been postponed. Why? The company feels the stage must be expanded. Indeed, “expanding the stage is crucial, as it posed an occupational health and safety risk to dancers, who ‘were dancing into the walls, dancing into the wings’ every time they performed.”
Barenboim Apologizes (Sort Of) And Gets Prize
Daniel Barenboim will be awarded Israel’s Wolf Prize after all. “The education minister, Limor Livnat, had demanded that Mr. Barenboim apologize publicly for defying an unwritten Israeli ban on Wagner. Holocaust survivors still associate Wagner with the Nazis. In an interview on Tuesday with Israel Radio, Mr. Barenboim said he had no regrets about playing the work, but added, ‘If people were really hurt, of course I regret this, because I don’t want to harm anyone’.”
Assistant To A Star
Being an assistant to a star is tough work. So now there’s a new association of assistants to ease the bumps. “Last week, the UK Association of Celebrity Assistants (UKACA) was unveiled at a low-key launch party in Belgravia. The guests were Moneypennys to megastars and, as you might expect, they were excruciatingly well-behaved and sober. Cards were exchanged, telephone numbers swapped and everyone left by 8.45. As the PAs of celebrities, these people are used to melting into the background, which is exactly what they did.”
Barnes & Noble’s Fiction Gatekeeper
Sessalee Hensley is in charge of buying fiction for Barnes & Noble. “How many copies will be bought – of Proust, McMillan, John Grisham, Jonathan Franzen and Ms. Hensley’s favorite, Barbara Kingsolver – how they’ll be apportioned among the 652 Barnes & Noble branches and 200 B. Dalton Booksellers in her fiefdom, how they’ll be placed and positioned–this is all part of the gig. ‘There are some books that I’ve gone through three, four, five revisions of how I’m thinking about them,’ says Ms. Hensley, 48. Concern that she’s decided wrong sometimes keeps her up at night. Concern that she’s decided wrong keeps publishers up as well…”